Kentucky's historic upset of Tennessee draws widespread reaction from insiders, analysts
John Calipari and Kentucky delivered an improbable upset at Tennessee on Saturday, as the Wildcats may have salvaged their otherwise troublesome season.
Kentucky scored a 63-56 win over No. 5 Tennessee less than a week after an improbable loss to South Carolina at Rupp Arena, only the third ever win by the Gamecocks in Lexington.
Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio and Jimmy Dykes of ESPN all reacted to the win.
Rothstein pointed out that the Vols are susceptible to an upset in March, while Jones spoke to the fan base and its criticisms of recent struggles, but said “we all should be thrilled about todays performance.” Dykes went as far as to say this win could flip the entire season.
Andy Katz called it “One of the most needed Ws for (Kentucky) in quite some time.”
Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated even called it a “Potential season-saving win for Kentucky. This team had done absolutely nothing of note this year until now. Turning point?”
Here’s a reaction from some insiders and analysts:
Regardless of how good Tennessee is defensively, today’s performance reiterates why the Vols will be America’s early upset pick on Selection Sunday unless they become more potent on offense. https://t.co/8lSuuUZX5v
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 14, 2023
EVERYONE should be happy about this game
Criticisms before this game were completely legitimate…and folks who act like they weren’t are wrong
But we all should be thrilled about todays performance
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) January 14, 2023
Again… the team Cal put on floor today and the swagger he coached with has most likely flipped @KentuckyMBB entire season
— Jimmy Dykes (@CoachJimmyDykes) January 14, 2023
One of the most needed Ws for @KentuckyMBB in quite some time. https://t.co/ktDseQhsfj
— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) January 14, 2023
Potential season-saving win for Kentucky. This team had done absolutely nothing of note this year until now. Turning point?
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) January 14, 2023
Good news, bad news, always good to beat Tennessee, bad because it probably means that Cal gets to stick around longer.
Great WIN. Tn has some of the most disrespectful and disgusting fans I’ve ever seen. I was at the game such classless fans!! So glad KY beat those arrogant fans that have zero final fours in their non-relevant history
Good to see Tennessee finally has a decent team for once.
I didn’t watch the game but I saw the box score and UT went 3-21 from three. Was that excellent defense or was UT just off. Rebound edge was 42-23. That’s normally hustle and hard work. Maybe, just maybe, Cal finally got to his players and they went at it.
Ky earned the win with a solid game plan and hustle as well as sone uncharacteristic misses by Ut. I saw 6 missed easy layups. ZZ had 4 of those. Ky guarded tge three hard and it paid off. Hope we can exact sone revenge in rupp.
It’s not easy to beat the same team twice in a year, especially when UK is having a down year and TN is playing good ball.